Tim the Enchanter - Top 10 Most Beloved Wizards - TIME Top 10 Most Beloved Wizards 2. Tim the Enchanter "There are those who call me ... Tim." In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his knights meet pyromaniac wizard Tim the Enchanter, played by John Cleese in the 1975 movie and later by Hank Azaria in the Broadway version, Spamalot. The ram-horned, bearded wizard is capable of creating fire without flint or tinder, which he does both frequently and carelessly  during his short scene in the movie, Tim conjures fire close to 20 times. His power elicits applause from Arthur's knights, but when he warns them of the perils of the Rabbit of Caerbannog  who guards the cave containing the Grail  they discount his warning and the bunny's strength. Three are led to their doom before the bunny is killed by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

They should have heeded Arthur's earlier words: Tim "knows much that is hidden." Tim the Enchanter | Monty Python Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Tim: There! King Arthur: What, behind the rabbit? Tim: No, it's the rabbit! King Arthur: You silly stock! Tim the Enchanter was a character in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail , portrayed by John Cleese . He was a mysterious enchanter who was capable of conjuring fireballs with his long, wooden staff and even with his bare hands. He always wore a black and red robe, and a skullcap with horns on it. King Arthur and his knights, informed by an old man that Tim knows were the grail is hidden, traveled to Tim to ask him to help in their quest. When Arthur and his knights finally found Tim, the enchanter was standing on a mountain conjuring fireballs. When Tim saw that he had "visitors", he went to Arthur and his knights, who asked him to help.

After conjuring many fireballs and accidently frightening the knights several times, Tim finally revealed that their is a cave where the location of the grail is written on the wall- however, that cave is guarded by a terrible monster. The knights travel to the cave, and see that their is no terrible monster their, except a simple rabbit . Tim says that the rabbit is the monster and warns the knights not to attack it, but they attack it despite his warnings, and lose three of their knights, who are actually beheaded by a single bite from the killer rabbit. Tim says that he told them, before leaving the knights and persuemebly returning to his home. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Film) - TV Tropes Monty Python and the Holy Grail You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Film / Monty Python and the Holy Grail × Timeline "RUN AWAY!" After the success of Monty Python's Flying Circus in the UK and US, the six Ambassadors of Anarchy got the right to make films.

This 1974 effort was their second go-round (after 1972's And Now for Something Completely Different, which featured redone versions of several sketches from Circus) and one of their most famous and oft-quoted. A complete skewering of the Arthurian legend , it tells the story of King Arthur and his attempt to build a court at Camelot (which is, of course, a silly place). Once he assembles his crew (off-screen, mostly), he has a vision of God (or a reasonable drawing of same by Terry Gilliam based on a famous cricket player ), informing him that to cement his name in immortality, he must seek the Holy Grail —the cup used at the Last Supper of Christ, and which caught his blood after the crucifixion. After a long and roundabout search which leads them to the far corners of the Kingdom and past idiosyncratic knights, the world's oldest harem, and a very nasty rabbit , they discover the Grail is supposedly located in a very old castle, which has fallen into the hands of those heathen enemies—the French. Those nasty taunting bastards.

Full of random quips, hilarious stand-alone scenes, and the type of comedic anarchy and anticlimax that practically defines British comedy even to this day, the movie was a low-budget success story and has become a Cult Classic over time. It also reveals Michael Palin 's versatility, as he plays something like 10 roles over the course of the film. He's not alone, of course; the majority of people and about 80% of the lines are from the Pythonites, leading to some interesting blocking and directing decisions. (Watch Lancelot's helmet.) Or, if you want to be "artsy" about it, see Eric Idle 's Broadway adaptation, Spamalot !. Just a side note—because Terry Jones is, in fact, an Arthurian scholar, this happens to be not just the funniest but the most accurate film adaptation of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur ever made . Some of the humor, in fact, is derived from typical Pythonian spins on events and characterizations from the original tales. It also meant that Jones knew how to caricature a story already muddied by Pop Culture Osmosis . Bring out your tropes!

Abnormal Ammo : The cow and large wooden rabbit the French fling at the English knights. Catapulting real animals—which the French also do—was a legitimate strategy for fending off invaders back then, but they were usually dead animals meant to spread disease, not living livestock. "Fetchez la vache!" The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, ultimately used to defeat the Killer Rabbit . Absurdly Sharp Blade : King Arthur can cut through the Black Knight 's armor and limbs with ease; for the arms in particular, his sword doesn't even seem to go through, and a strike on the shoulder is enough to make the limb fall off. Justified, as he's using Excalibur . AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle : The Knights of the Round Table, whose shows are formidABLE, but many times are given rhymes that are quite unsingABLE . Affectionate Parody : Terry Jones is an Arthurian scholar and knew a lot of the source material. All Women Are Lustful : Castle Anthrax, where the many vile temptresses threaten to take Galahad's purity, despite the fact that he doesn't mind. Almost Dead Guy : Subverted constantly.

The "plague victim" who protests that he is not dead. However, both his "caretaker" and the cart bearer eventually have had enough of his whining and kill him anyway. The Running Gag of people getting shot, stabbed, or otherwise injured, and people mourning over them as if they are giving a Final Speech , only for them to protest that they are "getting better". With his dying breath, Joseph of Aramathea carves a message on a cave wall. King Arthur: If he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve "Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh!", he'd just say it! Sir Galahad: Perhaps he was dictating. King Arthur: Oh, shut up. The whole gag is subverted when the Castle is revealed to be named "Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh!". Aluminum Christmas Trees : Launching/dropping dead animals and other nasty things was a real tactic in siege warfare. Those guys in the monks robes who walk around chanting in Latin and hitting themselves in the face with boards? They were called flagellants. Compared to what some of the historical flagellant sects did to themselves, their behavior, odd as it is, is extremely mild.

is a real political philosophy. To make matters worse, actual ancient Germans lived in a society closely resembling Anarchist ideals. The "Killer Rabbit" is inspired by real Medieval religious art, which often illustrated the sin of cowardice by depicting a knight fleeing from a rabbit. Amusing Injuries : The Black Knight's limbs being lopped off in his duel with King Arthur. "You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!" Anachronism Stew : Invoked . The modern-day police officers coming to arrest Arthur and his mob at the end of the movie. A subtle one: everyone's teeth are yellowed, either slightly or grossly, to show how grimy the dark ages were. However, as Terry Jones pointed out, this would not be so common in an era before the sugar industry. This was one of Jones' deliberate appeals to Pop Culture Osmosis (ie, what most people think the Dark Ages were like). Anarchy Is Chaos : Intentionally averted when King Arthur comes across an anarcho-syndicalist commune of literal mud farmers. They are decidedly non-violent, particularly when compared to Arthur himself.

Anti-Climax : The surprise ending to the British attack on the French castle. The reason why they didn't go through with the whole fight is because they ran out of money and time and couldn't film the whole thing. So they just said "Everyone went to jail". Some people consider it a cop-out . It could also be a bust , too! Including Eric Idle 's daughter. From the documentary Monty Python: Almost the Truth: Eric Idle : I ended the Holy Grail because we didn't have an end for that either. I said, "Why don't we have the police arrest them, put their hand over the camera." My daughter hates me for that! She says, "It's the shittiest ending of a movie ever! I hate you, Dad!" The Death of the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh is another example. There is no fight, just a Chase Scene . The monster disappears when the animator has a heart attack. Apocalyptic Log : The message carved by Joseph of Aramathea giving the Grail's location.

Arranged Marriage : Prince Herbert's father wants him to marry a princess because her father owns the biggest tracts of open land in Britain, never mind Herbert's objections. Sir Lancelot comes to rescue Herbert because he thinks he's a Damsel in Distress . Artistic License ï¿½ History : A man announcing himself as the "King of the Britons" and "Defeater of the Saxons" would never have concluded with "Sovereign of all England". The reason a Briton would have been fighting the Saxons in the first place would be to prevent the establishment of "England", which means "Land of the Anglo-Saxons". Ascended to Carnivorism : The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog doesn't want to eat grass anymore. As Himself : As part of one of the many fourth-wall-breaking jokes, Terry Gilliam is briefly seen as "the animator of the movie"—himself—suffering a fatal heart attack. Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat! Arthur's Battle Cry quickly breaks down into a rather disorderly call for retreat: "Run Awaaay!", when the French counterattack by launching a farm animal at the attackers.

The tactic used against the killer rabbit is initially to Zerg Rush it. When it effortlessly kills several of them, Arthur calls a retreat. Badass Adorable : The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is an ordinary fluffy white rabbit that rips your throat out with ease. Bait-and-Switch Credits : The credits start with Swedish subtitles, turn into a pitch for Swedish tourism, then an anecdote about a woman being bit by a møøse. The credits people are fired, before one more møøse subtitle comes in, after which the new directors are fired. The credits continue with møøse positions added in, which results in the directors being fired again. Finally, the last few credits are shown with bright flashing lights , crediting llamas several times, all set to Mexican mariachi music. See them all here . The Bard : Sir Robin's minstrels, one of whom sings " Brave Sir Robin Ran Away ". Bedsheet Ladder : Prince Herbert's escape attempt involves one, but it doesn't turn out well when the sheet is unfastened and he falls from the tower.

Better Than It Sounds Film : "King Arthur's tale is filmed on an extremely low budget and the plot goes off in random directions." Bewitched Amphibians : One of the peasants in the witch-burning scene claims that the accused turned him into a newt. "She turned me into a newt!" "A newt?" In one scene, (cut from the original theatrical version, but reinstated for TV and video) Dingo turns and talks to the audience, before being admonished by various cast members who aren't involved in the scene. "GET ON WITH IT!!" "Look! There's the old man from Scene 24!" Patsy: [referring to Camelot] "It's only a model"note SHHH!!!!. Brick Joke : The swallow joke ("African or European?") comes up at least twice after the initial scene. The narrator goes on about how many swallows'-flights away Arthur and Bedevere are from Galahad and Lancelot, and the counter-question that allows Arthur to pass the Bridge of Death is a clarification on which species of swallow. Bedevere is also introduced with a coconut tied to a bird, though it's a dove instead of a swallow.

The above joke went even further in the script, but the final Brick Joke had to be cut because of the movie's low budget. The Pythons originally wanted the movie to end with an epic payoff for the "swallows with coconuts" joke, where Arthur's army would have stormed the Castle Aaaaargh and been aided at the last minute by a flock of swallows dropping coconuts on the French knights . Naturally, they didn't have enough cash to pull that off, and ended the movie with the cops arresting everyone instead. After Lancelot "saves" him from Castle Anthrax, Galahad accuses Lancelot of being gay, which he denies. Subsequently, we see Lancelot rush to a castle to rescue a "damsel" who turns out to be the very effeminate Prince Herbert—who already had an escape plan . So not-gay, ostentatiously-hyper-masculine Lancelot ends up answering the personal ad of a young feminine guy who isn't at all interested in marrying a girl with huge... tracts of land . The Book of Armaments, as read by Brother Maynard, expressly forbids counting 5.

Unfortunately, Arthur keeps getting 3 and 5 mixed up , and technically does count 5. The murder of the historian, and the ending. Early in the film some peasants comment that Arthur must be a king as he passes them by, citing that he's the only one not covered in shit. At the end of the film, the French drop shit on Arthur. The credits is a subtle example: all of the credits guys were sacked at the beginning of the film, so there are no end credits. Brown Note : The Knights Who Say "Ni", a word that apparently drains the life out of whoever it is said to, or something. Later King Arthur uses the word himself. Then it's revealed that the word "it" has a similar effect on the Knights themselves. Arthur's overheard information about swallows and coconuts. Used to launch someone off a bridge . The Chosen One : Subverted and discussed. When King Arthur gives his Lady Of the Lake speech, an anarcho-syndicalist peasant doesn't see what's so special about being chosen.

"Strange women layin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government!" Cloud Cuckoo Lander : Almost every character in the film counts as this, with the exception of the Historian, his Wife, and the Police, whose presence only reinforces the theory that the main characters are merely away with the fairies. The Coconut Effect : Parodied with a literal use of Coconut Superpowers ; all of the knights mime riding horses, while their serfs follow behind them with two empty halves of coconuts, clapping them together. Coconut Superpowers : A literal use, caused by the movie having No Budget . The horses are just the serfs following their knight, clapping two halves of a coconut together. When the knights are hurled from the Bridge of Death, the actor is just crouched down, and then standing up real fast before the camera cuts to a shot of the "knight" flying through the air. Commune : It's anarcho-syndicalist! What do they need a king for? Cool and Unusual Punishment : The Knights of Ni and King Arthur using the Brown Note "Ni!" to hurt people.

Apparently the punishment for lighting the "Grail-shaped" beacon at the Castle Anthrax is for the offender to be tied to a bed and spanked. And after the spanking, the oral sex! Corpsing : During the "Burn the Witch" scene, a scythe-wielding peasant ( Eric Idle ) bites into his scythe to keep himself from cracking up. The opening credits are underscored by bogus "Swedish" subtitles, with liberal reference to møøse for Caption Humor . Literally everything in the final segment of the opening credits is some sort of reference to llamas . Mass firings, which carries on into the end credits, or lack thereof. The disclaimer that no characters are based on real people is signed by Richard M. Nixon. Crashing Through the Harem : Sir Galahad fights his way through a forest in a storm until he finds Castle Anthrax, which has a Grail-shaped beacon overhead. He bangs on the door, and when it opens he falls inside. He meets several young women, one of whom tells him that the castle contains eight score young blondes and brunettes, all between the ages of 16 and 19½.

As Sir Galahad escapes from two naughty female doctors, he enters a room filled with the aforementioned eight score young women. Just as he decides to stay, some of the other knights "rescue" him and get him to continue the Grail quest. He then proceeds to call them gay . Crosscast Role : In a rarity for Monty Python, there's only one example of crossdressing in the whole film: the very minor character of Dennis's mother, who is played by Terry Jones . Even the Pythons comment on this on the DVD commentary, and surmise that, since they could afford an actual cast for the first time, they just naturally hired real women to play the women in the film. Indeed Connie Booth (Cleese's then wife) is cast as the supposed witch, while Carol Cleveland is the main woman in Castle Anthrax. One can pretend it is just a very early vanguard of William The Conqueror . Death by Looking Up : The only person killed when the "Trojan Rabbit" is launched is one of the servants, who stands still, looking up at it. Death of a Thousand Cuts : Lancelot tries, without success, to take out the French castle using this technique.

The marks in the castle's masonry from John Cleese's blade remain to this very day. Defied Trope : The King of Swamp Castle is not having any musical numbers if he can help it. (Unfortunately for him, he can't stop a Crowd Song .) Department of Redundancy Department : Brother Maynard: Three is the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four thou shalt not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. This sounds exactly like an oral tradition (where repetition helped cement things in memory) that got transcribed exactly when it got written down. See above about Terry Jones being a history geek. Parts of the Book of Armaments bear an uncanny resemblance to the Athanasian Creed, which affirms the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in agonizing detail; to quote just a tiny section: "...and yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty.

So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God..." Derailed for Details : In the opening scene, King Arthur's attempt to summon the Lord of the local castle derails into a discussion of how exactly King Arthur acquired a coconut shell in Medieval England, and ends with an argument over the migratory patterns of swallows. This even turns up later in a Brick Joke . Deranged Animation : The various intercut scenes, like with the Black Beast of AAAAAAARRRRGGGHH! , are animated in Terry Gilliam 's signature deranged style. The Blu-ray extras contain even more examples, newly restored, that didn't make it into the final film. Determinator : Deconstructed, figuratively and literally, by the Black Knight scene. Cleese even said he based it on a school lesson in never surrendering that Cleese found rather ridiculous (as it was about a Greco-Roman wrestler who died in the ring rather than lose the match). If all your limbs are cut off then, no matter how determined you are, you can't continue fighting.

The corpse collector is able to identify Arthur as a king because "he hasn't got shit all over him", never mind the crown on his head. Dennis and his mother are mud farmers. Dwindling Party : Thanks in no small part to the Bridge of Death, where the knights get launched into a pit of despair for failing the questions of the bridgekeeper. By the end of the scene, only Arthur and Bedevere are left. Dying Clue : "He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the castle of AAAAaaaaaargh." It turns out the castle really is called "AAAAaaaaaargh". Early-Bird Cameo : Sir Bors appears much earlier than his famous death scene; he's one of the helmeted knights who help Lancelot "rescue" Galahad from Castle Anthrax. He's not named in that scene, but you can tell it's him since he has the same heraldry. Eat Dirt, Cheap : Parodied. The Constitutional Peasants are seen gathering dirt and filth in the same way one would harvest crops.

High-Pressure Blood King Arthur's duel with the Black Knight; every time the knight loses a limb, he spurts absurd amounts of blood for a second or two. The scene with the Killer Rabbit, wherein the rabbit bites off a few heads, does the same thing. Hoist by His Own Petard : The bridge-keeper attempts to invoke three questions before letting them cross (which are either very easy—if you aren't indecisive—or awfully hard trick questions or trivia). If they fail (either by not knowing one of the answers or simply being indecisive), they are hurled down a fiery crevice. When Arthur gets his turn, specifically when he gets to the third question (about the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow), Arthur asks for clarification as to whether he meant an unladen African swallow or an unladen European swallow. The bridgekeeper then admits he doesn't know, with predictable results. The Knights of the Round Table, when the French taunters catapult their own Trojan Rabbit back at them. Holy Hand Grenade : The Trope Namer . "Bless this oh Lord thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch." It's a holy weapon meant to smite evil.

Hollywood Apocrypha : Brother Maynard reads from the Book of Armaments. Hollywood Tactics : Go, Sir Lancelot, you psychotic berk ! Chop that castle down with your sword! It's justified, in that this was how Lancelot is characterized in Malory and other early sources. "Mentally-unstable berserker prone to stress-induced fugue states" doesn't even begin to cover him. This scene in particular is a parody of the rescue of Guenevere near the end of Le Morte d'Arthur . Improbable Aiming Skills : The Black Knight throwing his sword right through the eye-slot of the Green Knight's helmet. Prince Herbert fires an arrow with a message tied to it out of the window, and it travels a considerable distance before striking Lancelot's servant square in the chest. Incessant Music Madness : Sir Robin eventually loses his temper with his minstrels, though it has more to do with their derogatory lyrics than the quality of their singing. Informed Ability : The minstrels initially gush about Sir Robin's bravery, but after he flees from combat with the three-headed giant, it turns into servile snarking .

"A newt?" (As opposed to, say, a cat.) Møøse. Majestic perhaps, but very funny. Insane Troll Logic : Bedevere's faultless chain of reasoning leading to the conviction of the witch: If a woman weights the same amount as a duck then she's made of wood because both ducks and wood float, and because both wood and witches burn, she must be a witch! In true Monty Python fashion, it works! Also, one of the tracks on the soundtrack album is an alleged philosophy professor analyzing the very thing. He concludes that sex is better than logic. Intermission : Parodied. The "intermission" is ninety percent of the way through the movie and very brief. Invisible Backup Band : Every time Herbert makes an (almost always abortive) attempt to start singing, a band begins to play, before it's all shut down by his father. "I Want" Song : Defied . The lord of Swamp Castle keeps stopping his son, Prince Herbert, from breaking out into at several points. It is first, in a later scene, where Herbert turns it into a Crowd Song that he is able to drown out his father's attempts to stop it.

Jerkass Has a Point : Dennis is annoying as hell, but he's correct that 1) in real-world terms Arthur's claim to be ruler is Insane Troll Logic , 2) Arthur has not been given legitimacy by the people he seeks to rule, and 3) Arthur immediately begins attacking and insulting him the instant he points out 1 and 2, thereby proving that "violence is inherent in the system". Just a Stupid Accent : John Cleese's taunting Frenchman hangs a lampshade . It's further played with when one of the French knights does speak French (or uses commonly-known French words), and the other Frenchmen don't understand a word. Frenchman #1: C'est un cadeau! Frenchman #2: Huh? In Spamalot !, Lancelot really is gay. In the screenplay on the DVD, the other knights look knowingly at Lancelot. Monster Munch : Sirs Bors, Gawain, and Ector, three Red Shirts who show up after the Time Skip following the Knights of Ni scene, exist entirely to be killed by the Killer Rabbit . Moving the Goalposts : The Knights Who Say "Ni" do this to King Arthur and Sir Bedevere.

After they get the Knights a shrubbery, the Knights demand another shrubbery, and to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring . Arthur and Bedevere are only saved thanks to Arthur accidentally exploiting the Knights' Weaksauce Weakness to the word "it". Multiple Head Case : The three-headed giant whose heads bicker amongst themselves, which ultimately allows Robin to escape while they are distracted. Mythology Gag : Sir Bedevere is the first knight to follow Arthur. The character of Bedevere (Welsh: Bedwyr) appeared in Arthurian legend before Lancelot, Galahad and the rest (except Sir Robin who is new). Sir Bedevere is also the last of Arthur's knights to remain. In Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur he is the last knight alive after the final battle where Arthur is mortally wounded. Sir Robin was mentioned to have wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill. This battle was apparently a real event which Arthur became associated with. It frequently comes up in discussions about the historical basis for the Arthur legends.

Names to Run Away from Really Fast : Not Castle AAAAaaaaaargh (although it clearly was intended to evoke this trope), but Castle Anthrax. Maybe there really was more peril there for Lancelot to rescue Galahad from than just losing his chastity... Never Say That Again : Ni! Turned around on the knights, later. They are drained of their will by the word "it". Oddly enough, the knight says it at the top of the scene with no harm done. He hits himself with it for damage during the fadeout. No Ending : Due to a combination of writer's block, No Budget and everyone getting fed up with the film's Troubled Production . Arthur and his knights prepare to storm the French castle, and are then promptly arrested by the police for the murder of a historian killed by Lancelot halfway through the film. Noodle Implements : Bedevere claims to have some theories on how sheep's bladders can be used to prevent earthquakes. Then again, he is quite the Cloud Cuckoolander . Sir Robin wasn't so lucky. Same questions until the third . Bridge Keeper: What is the capital of Assyria? Robin: Wh- I don't know that!

*Tossed into the chasm below* Sir Galahad got the favourite colour question, but still managed to get it wrong . King Arthur gets another atypical question, and yet he survives because... Bridge Keeper: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladden swallow? Arthur: What do you mean, an African or European swallow? Bridge Keeper: Huh, uh, I don't know that... *Tossed into the chasm below* Rope Bridge : Subverted, in that it doesn't break. Graham Chapman got so drunk, he was absolutely terrified this would happen, so a stunt double strutted across the bridge in his place. You might notice how strangely determined the guy looks when doing this. Rule of Funny : The driving force behind all technology in the movie. Why else would the French have their catapults already aimed at the Britons, but unloaded? How else would one explain the existence of the Holy Hand Grenade ? The movie thrives on this trope. Rule of Three The counting of the Holy Hand Grenade. "Five is right out." Subverted with the story about constructing the swamp castles. The third castle in the swamp fared even worse than the first two, but the fourth one stayed up.

Arthur constantly confuses "five" for "three". "[We've lost] Gawain, Ector, and Bors, that's five..." At the Bridge of Death, adventurers must answer three questions in order to cross the bridge. Swallows and coconuts come up way too often in this movie, as do people not quite dying, and the number three. Every time Arthur prays, he gets hit with something. Arthur keeps getting 3 and 5 mixed up. Scare Chord : Like everything else by Monty Python , the Knights Who Say Ni scene plays this for laughs: Knight Who Says Ni: We demand...a shrubbery! (Cue a very loud, screeching chord.) Scooby Stack : The French knights stack up against the wall by the entrance to their castle before stepping out to investigate the Trojan Rabbit. Screw This, I'm Outta Here! : When brave Sir Robin encounters a three-headed giant, he chickens out. His minstrel keeps singing about it, much to his annoyance. Listen to the Tale of how Brave Sir Robin ran away .

Sir Robin's minstrel: Brave Sir Robin ran away./Bravely ran away away./When danger reared it's ugly head,/He bravely turned his tail and fled./Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about/And gallantly he chickened out./Bravely taking to his feet,/He beat a very brave retreat. Seinfeldian Conversation : Lots of it, especially the argument about coconuts that defeats Arthur's attempt to enlist the master of the castle at the beginning of the film. Shaggy Dog Story : The whole movie is this it turns out, since it ends with everyone being arrested, so that the quest for the Grail is never fulfilled and the whole journey was for nothing. Shout-Out : The Trojan Rabbit (Trojan Horse) and Lancelot's squire Concorde (the jet) (or possibly a reference to John Cleese's Dennis Moore character from the TV show), among others. Also, Lancelot thanks the Bridgekeeper as he passes theBridge of Death by saying "Thank you. Thankyouverymuch," in the same vein as Elvis Presley . The flagellation, the witch burning scene, and the mock-Swedish subtitles are all shout-outs to The Seventh Seal .

The Holy Hand Grenade instructions, as read by Brother Maynard: Brother Maynard: ... who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it. Dennis the anarcho-syndicalist peasant defies Arthur's authority: Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! Stealth Pun : The ending, where everyone gets arrested instead of finishing the story. It's a cop-out. Describing a woman as having "large tracts of land" accompanied by hand gestures indicating she has a large chest. The potential bride is described as having property, which, given the era, she would not have owned outright, but would have made up her dowry, to go to her husband upon marriage. Thus she was literally "well-endowed." It today's language a woman is "well-endowed" if she has a large chest. On the Special Edition DVD, the film opens with a clip from the 1961 British film Dentist On the Job; the off-screen projectionist realizes his mistake and switches over to the film proper.

On the surface, this is just standard Python humor, but the joke comes from the film's American title: Get On With It. Storming the Castle : The French castle is attacked three times : Arthur's knights attempt to storm it early on, Lancelot later attacks the castle by himself, and finally, Arthur's army charges it again at the climax. Lancelot storms Castle Anthrax to save Galahad from "almost certain temptation", and Swamp Castle to save the distressed... prince. Stuff Blowing Up : Tim the Enchanter interrupts the knights mid-sentence for no purpose but pyrotechnics.

Suspiciously Specific Denial : When Galahad arrives at Castle Anthrax and demands the Grail, Zoot acts as if she has no idea what he's talking about, but when he mentions seeing a vision of it in the sky, she suddenly exclaims, "Oh, I just remembered, our castle's beacon is grail-shaped." Considering a) there's a punishment set in place specifically for turning on the beacon (because they keep having trouble like this over it) and b) the maidens in the castle clearly wanting to lure young men into their bedrooms, it's pretty obvious Zoot knew all along what Galahad was talking about, that the beacon was turned on to trick travelers, and Zoot's exclamation was both this trope and a bit of Blatant Lies . That Makes Me Feel Angry : When the Black Knight refuses to join Arthur, he mildly states, "You make me sad," but doesn't appear to be particularly upset until the Black Knight also refuses to let him pass . That Poor Cat : Exaggerated, in that the cat is occasionally deliberately abused (in one scene, it's being swung by its tail at a post). The cat is on-screen every time someone makes it complain.

(No, it's not a real cat.) That Was the Last Entry : Parodied when the group encounters a stone wall on which a victim of a monster attack has been carving entries onto. It ends, "He who is valiant, and might of spirit, may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of Arrrgh". The knights argue whether the castle is actually named Arrrgh or if the author died while writing it and wrote down his death rattle while doing so. Someone suggests he was dictating it. It's the first one. These Questions Three : Named for the Troll Bridge scene, which didn't just parody this, it zig zagged it. The first two questions are constant: "What is your name?" and "What is your quest ?" After that, he'll often ask "What is your favourite colour?" but he's just as likely to throw curveballs like " What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? ", or "What is the capital of Assyria?" Throwing Your Sword Always Works : The Black Knight kills the Green Knight by throwing his sword through his helm's eye slot. Time Passes Montage : The seasons-passing segment.

Subverted in that the seasons are deliberately mixed up by the end. Trojan Horse : It's a straight homage to the original, except that it's a Trojan Rabbit...and they forget to put anyone inside of it. Troll Bridge : The Bridge of Death, which nobody can cross without answering three questions asked by the Bridgekeeper. Get a question wrong or fail to answer confidently and immediately, and the unfortunate adventurer is cast into the chasm. Trope Overdosed : Yes and no. Given that this movie was the Trope Namer for many of the listed tropes on this page, Monty Python And The Holy Grail is only trope-overdosed in retrospect . Back when the movie premiered (in 1975), it was just 91 minutes of (often ground-breaking) weirdness. Trust Me, I'm a Doctor : Both Doctor Piglet and Doctor Winston try to assure Sir Galahad that they are doctors during his stay at Castle Anthrax. They've had "basic medical training".

Unexplained Recovery : The peasant's claim that he "got better" after being turned into a newt by the alleged witch comes across as pretty unconvincing, although it's just as likely that the peasant was lying about getting cursed in the first place. Despite an unpleasant "splat" sound effect after falling out of the tower, Prince Herbert shows up at his wedding none the worse for wear. He does intend to explain this recovery (in song, of course), but, sadly, we don't get to hear the best part. Unstoppable Rage : Lancelot when he's Storming the Castle . He later admits to the king of Swamp Castle that it's a bit of problem of his, as he never really knows when to stop, or when not to start. Unusual Euphemism : The Swamp King wants Herbert to marry a woman so he can inherit her father's property, but the son is unwilling. He tries to convince him with a couple of reasons, ending off with the fact that she has "huge...tracts of land," with a gesture that is less suggestive of real estate and more suggestive of womanly curves.

Unwanted Rescue : Sir Lancelot "rescues" Galahad from Castle Anthrax, where he is in "awful peril" from "eight score young blondes and brunettes, all between the ages of 16 and 19½." Naturally, Galahad protests. Vague Age : The girls of Castle Anthrax are "all between the ages of 16 and 19½". The Knights Who Say "Ni" have a habit of spouting the word off like punctuation, even when they're not using its Brown Note capabilities. King Arthur has a tendency to say "five" when he actually means "three". Verbal Weakness : The Knights Who Say Ni "cannot hear" some words, but the only one shown in the movie is the word "it". Vow of Celibacy : Sir Galahad is known as "Sir Galahad the Pure", but the many women at Castle Anthrax eventually convince him to forget it. Galahad: I am sworn to chastity! Woman: Back to your bed at once! Wandering Minstrel : Brave, brave Sir Robin's got a bunch of them following him around.

Weaksauce Weakness : The Knights Who Say "Ni" are weakened by hearing the word "it", much the same as what "ni" does to ordinary humans. Weapons-Grade Vocabulary : The word "Ni", soon revealed to be usable by ordinary humans and not just The Knights Who Say "Ni". Turned around on the Knights, later. They are weakened by hearing the word "it". Oddly enough, the lead Knight says it near the beginning of the scene with no harm done, but then hits himself with it for damage during the fadeout. White Bunny : The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, which is definitely of the deceptively gentle-looking variety. Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? : The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is defeated with a hand grenade once it is established that the rabbit can kill the knights easily in close-quarters combat. World Shapes : Bedevere delivers an Orphaned Punch Line that suggests there is proof that the world is banana-shaped.

Question: Who played 'Tim the Enchanter' in the film 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'?
Answer: JOHN CLEESE